The drive for cost cuts and higher margins at U.S. trucking and railroad operators is pinching their biggest customers, forcing the likes of General Mills Inc (GIS.N) and Hormel Foods Corp (HRL.N) to spend more on deliveries and consider raising their own prices as a way to pass along the costs.

The smartphone industry is bound to consolidate as the heavy investments required to remain competitive mean that, in the long-run, only a handful of firms can make money, the consumer chief of China's Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL] said on Sunday.

Children struggle to hold pencils due to too much tech, doctors say"Children are not coming into school with the hand strength and dexterity they had 10 years ago," said Sally Payne, the head paediatric occupational therapist at the Heart of England foundation NHS Trust. "Children coming into school are being given a pencil but are increasingly not be able to hold it because they don't have the fundamental movement skills.

Down from the clouds of unreality that remains Fox News, former intelligence officers have been even more candid, thrilled to confess to something as natural as eating. "If you ask any intelligence officer, did the Russians break the rules or do something bizarre, the answer is no, not at all," comes the view of Steven L. Hall, who left the CIA in 2015 after 30 years of service. Not only had the US "absolutely" carried out operations in influencing elections, he hoped "we keep doing it."

It's a tried and true formula. If you want to deprive your opposition of their free speech, first choose a relatively easy target (in this case, far-right people). That gets your foot in the door. -- RF

Bad idea, of course. But the real danger illustrated here is that of a cashless society, where financial institutions — or the governments behind them — can impose purchase embargoes on anyone for any reason. -- RF

In 2018, frac sand demand is expected to top 100 million tons, according to Rystad Energy. "Right now, the market is really stretched thin," says Thomas Jacob, a senior analyst at IHS Markit, told the FT in December. "Everyone is running at full capacity."

Turns out it's not so easy to calculate. But even it it's high, there are other factors which militate against nuclear power. One factor is the extreme dangers of the technology (compounded by the immaturity of humanity). Another is the increasingly great expense of building nuclear power plants. But the really scary part is what happens when offsite power fails. -- RF

Satellites see big fishing's footprint on the high seasBy using ships' own emergency beacons, researchers got the first comprehensive snapshot of industrial fishing's impacts around the globe. And it's huge - bigger than scientists thought, according to a new study.
Too many humans. -- RF

That is a lesser concern. Once an AI becomes self-aware, it would develop its own agenda. It could become an "alien" intelligence whose thinking would be incomprehensible to humans, and therefore totally unpredictable. In the end, we may well prefer human hackers. -- RF

Obviously, the people (CIA trolls?) quoted here criticizing so-called whataboutism don't agree. So, let's try another approach: If the 13 Russians should be indicted, then the countless Americans who have meddled in the affairs of other countries should also be indicted, right? Needless to say, they would not agree. You can't win, because — in any era — the empire du jour is right, and everyone else is wrong. -- RFThe US is protecting ISIS to weaken rivals, expand US occupation of Syria

With the close of the games this weekend approaching, some worry that the Olympics will instead saddle the region with a legacy of massive debt and the perpetual maintenance of a handful of hugely expensive venues that no one knows what to do with.

Dotcom tweeted "Let me assure you, the DNC hack wasn't even a hack. It was an insider with a memory stick. I know this because I know who did it and why," adding "Special Counsel Mueller is not interested in my evidence. My lawyers wrote to him twice. He never replied."

Former British diplomat Craig Murray also claimed from the outset that it was a leak, not a hack, and that he knows the leaker's identity. He too has never been contacted by US investigators. -- RF

Take off the terrorist's mask, and it's the CIA. Take off the revolutionary's mask, and it's the CIA. Take off the Hollywood producer's mask, and it's the CIA. Take off the billionaire tech plutocrat's mask, and it's the CIA. Take off the news man's mask, and guess what? It's the [bleep] CIA.